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''Paying for It'', "a comic strip memoir about being a john", is a 2011 graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown. A combination of memoir and polemic, the book explores Brown's decision to give up on romantic love and to take up the life of a "john" by frequenting prostitutes. The book, published by Drawn and Quarterly, was controversial, and a bestseller. The book is concerned with Brown's conflicting desire to have sex, but not wanting to have another girlfriend after his partner Sook-Yin Lee breaks up with him. His solution is to forgo traditional boyfriend/girlfriend relationships and marriage. He takes up frequenting prostitutes, and comes to advocate prostitution as superior to the "possessive monogamy" of traditional male–female relations, which he debates with his friends throughout the book. Brown presents his views in detail in the closing 50-page text section, which includes a 23-part appendix, end notes, and a note from friend and fellow cartoonist Seth. Despite being about the separation of sex from romantic love, Brown calls the book "a type of love story". ==Overview== After then-girlfriend Sook-Yin Lee breaks up with him in 1996, Brown, who lacks the social skills to pick up women, spends a celibate three years mulling over what he sees as the negative aspects of romantic love in the modern world. He continues to live with Sook-Yin, even after she brings other men to live with them, and Brown witnesses their lovers' spats. He decides never to pursue a relationship with any one woman again — a condition he calls "possessive monogamy"—but he has "two competing desires -- the desire to have sex, versus the desire to NOT have a girlfriend." Eventually, he works up the courage to see a prostitute. He rides around on his bicycle looking for streetwalkers, but being unsuccessful, turns to the ads in the backs of free alternative newspapers. After his first experience, he feels free from a "burden" he has carried from adolescence. Over the course of 33 short chapters, Brown depicts his experiences with each of the 23 prostitutes he has visited (one of whom went under two different names), giving each at least a chapter of her own. He gives details of their physical features and sexual performances, while obscuring their faces and ethnicities and giving them false names. He "becomes an expert" and goes into the details of the trade, learning how to solicit and tip, and what the abbreviations in johns' reviews at the (Toronto escort review board ) mean. At first he uses the pseudonym "Steve McDougal" in his encounters, but, feeling he has nothing to hide, soon reverts to using his real name. Between his encounters with prostitutes are scenes of himself discussing and debating the issue with his friends, especially fellow cartoonists Seth and Joe Matt. Much of the humour in the book comes from the dialogue in these scenes. In the final chapter, "Back to Monogamy", he ends up with one particular prostitute, "Denise" (albeit in a strictly financial way) for seven years as of the book's publication. Brown ends the book still wondering about the nature of love, and insisting that "paying for sex isn’t an empty experience if you’re paying the right person for sex", but leaves the question of romantic love essentially open. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paying for It」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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